A proposed amendment to the New York City Administrative
Code that could have the effect of forcing employees of
schools across the city , including yeshivos, to summon the
police whenever there is a physical altercation between
students or a pilfering of property has prompted objection
by Agudath Israel of America.
Yeshivos have very low rates of violence and have not been
the subject of reports of the sort of criminal behavior that
has unfortunately become almost routine in many public
schools, and that apparently prompted the drafting of the
amendment.
But Agudath Israel is nevertheless concerned that the
regulatory attempt to curb shootings, stabbings and beatings
in city schools might have the counterproductive side effect
of hampering yeshiva principals - or any principals - from
dealing with more common situations of school yard strife or
petty stealing or minor drug use with insight rather than
with officers.
In a detailed memorandum to key members of the City Council
and its Education Committee, the organization's executive
vice president for government and public affairs, Chaim
Dovid Zwiebel, called attention to what he characterized as
overly broad language in the bill.
Any time, the proposed rule states, an employee of any
public or private school has "reasonable cause to believe
that a crime involving the health or safety of a child has
occurred or has been threatened in an educational setting,"
he or she must immediately notify the Police Department and
the principal, who, in turn, is obligated to "promptly
notify the parent or legal guardian of" the child.
Failure to comply would be classified as a criminal
misdemeanor.
Existing law, Mr. Zwiebel points out, already imposes on
school authorities the obligation to take reasonable steps
to deal with harmful or dangerous conduct. And principals
always have the option of notifying the police if they judge
that a situation merits such action.
"But," he adds, "school administrators currently have a
great deal of professional discretion in how to deal with
individual situations. They are free to deal with problems
or potential problems in ways that they understand to be in
the best interests of the children in their care."
If a student currently is caught with an illegal substance,
the Agudath Israel leader presents as an example, "a
principal may decide to refer the child to a drug
counselor." Or, if he has physically threatened another
student, "he may opt to call the aggressive child's
parents."
"The existing law recognizes that one size does not
necessarily fit all situations," Mr. Zwiebel summarizes,
"and that knowledgeable school authorities are the ones best
equipped to serve as gatekeepers in determining whether any
given situation merits the extreme step of bringing in the
police."
The proposed legislation, however, the Agudath Israel leader
asserts, would require school authorities to jettison their
standing procedures for dealing with many infractions, and
replace their discretion with an absolute legal obligation
to immediately apprise law-enforcement officers even for
relatively minor offenses.
This, says Mr. Zwiebel, would undermine the critical element
of personal trust that is "a principal's most effective
tool" in dealing with problems that may arise in a school
setting.
Agudath Israel suggested to the City Council members that
they consider improving the legislation by limiting its
mandate to adult-on-child crime, to felonies that endanger
children - and to public schools, where the perceived
problem that inspired the drafting of the new rule has been
most apparent.
In addition, says Mr. Zwiebel, "we feel that rather than
create an entirely new requirement, the Council simply
codify and amplify the existing common law standard: require
school employees to report crimes or threats to their
principals, require principals to take reasonable and
appropriate steps to deal with harmful or dangerous conduct
and spell out some of those steps, including, when
indicated, contact with the Police Department."
The effect of Agudath Israel's intervention, at this point,
has been to slow down the progress of the legislation, which
previously had been on a "fast track" to enactment. Agudath
Israel is working with the City Council, the Mayor's office,
the Board of Education and other non public school groups in
an effort to narrow the contours of the proposed new law.
